(CBS News) The closer we get to the election, the harder Republicans in Congress are pushing for answers to a big question: What really happened in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya last month that killed the U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans?

Some lawmakers are asking why U.S. military help from outside Libya didn't arrive as terrorists battered more than 30 Americans over the course of more than seven hours. The assault was launched by an armed mob of dozens that torched buildings and used rocket propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 rifles.

CBS News has been told that, hours after the attack began, an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Benghazi, and that the drone and other reconnaissance aircraft apparently observed the final hours of the protracted battle.

The State Department, White House and Pentagon declined to say what military options were available. A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies."

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is demanding answers from four senior United States military officers about whether there was advance warning of terrorist threats and the need for greater security prior to last months terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

However, an aide to the chairman, Rep. Howard Buck McKeon, (R., Calif.), said the office of secretary of defense Leon Panetta blocked the senior officers from providing the answers last night.

*CBS News has been told that, hours after the attack began, an unmanned Predator drone was sent over the U.S. mission in Benghazi, and that the drone and other reconnaissance aircraft apparently observed the final hours of the protracted battle.

*A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies.”

*CBS News has been told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did seek clearances from Libya to fly in their airspace, but the administration won’t say anything further about what was said or decided on that front.

For God’s Sake, we have an Amphibious Readiness Group on station in the Mediterranian with a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) consisting of a Reinforced Marine Infantry Battalion, a composite Marine Aircraft Squadron (light & heavy Helos, Ospreys, Harriers), and a Marine Logistics Support Unit with 30 days supply of materiel and associated combat service support equipment.

Remember, this attack on the US Consulate/Embassy took place at about 9:30 PM (Local). That was 3:30 or 4:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. We had people in positions of authority to land the MEU just watching this debacle unfold.

Atkisson has some credibility because she was the only one willing to report on Fast and Furious.

Put what happened here into context with, say, “Black Hawk Down”, and you’ve got 2 SEALs holding off 200 militants for 6 hours because they received a call for help, and you’ve got everybody else in the Pentagon and intel agencies watching the whole thing going down with a live feed, the particular kind of military equipment meant to disperse crowds like the one there that are only an hour’s flight away, and nobody in DC doing a dang thing. Send a drone to take pictures? Why not a drone that could have actually done something to help?

Maybe the military people can make sense out of this for me, but this just seems wrong. Very wrong.

According to reports, the Embassy attacks went down over an extended 6-7 time period.

Predators fly about as fast as a car driving down the highway. If we could get a Predator on station in time to monitor,the final hours, we could have gotten a lot more of military response in place in time to make a difference.

As soon as the Predator was in place we would have had a pretty good idea who and where the bad guys were, and US jets carrying JDAMS could have taken them apart with minimal collateral damage to our people on the ground or to Libyan civilians.

As soon as the the Embassy was over run and our people were already dead, we should have bombed the Embassy compound into oblivion to keep any classified information from getting into the wrong hands and killing the terrorists who attacked it.

Butter, that question needs to asked of the President and Sec Def Leon Panetta. Depending on the ARG’s location, the MEU could have had a company of Marines on the ground with in an hour or two.

I “floated” in 78 - 79. We also use to practice “NEOPS”... that is: “Non-combatant Evacuation Operations.” These ops are specifically used to help evacuate embassies when it looks like security is going down hill... like maybe in the previous August leading up to this 9-11.

Our officials watched the fire and destruction for hours. They did not interfere, since they had orchestrated the attack. Ambassador Stevens was supposed to have been kidnapped and then heroically ransomed by Obama. Our officials were not alarmed, since they thought Stevens was safe in the arms of Satan’s Servants.

"The assault was launched by an armed mob of dozens that torched buildings and used rocket propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 rifles."

Note that CBS is still using words like "mob" to give Obama cover for his "video tape" lie.

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did seek clearances from Libya to fly in their airspace, but the administration won't say anything further about what was said or decided"

She also waited 18 DAYS for visas before the FBI was sent in.

When a weak government like Libya can't defend any foreign embassy, you don't seek permission, you inform the weak government that you are taking control. Unless, of course, your own foreign policy is as weak as Libya.

15
posted on 10/20/2012 5:41:31 AM PDT
by norwaypinesavage
(Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)

For Gods Sake, we have an Amphibious Readiness Group on station in the Mediterranian with a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) consisting of a Reinforced Marine Infantry Battalion, a composite Marine Aircraft Squadron (light & heavy Helos, Ospreys, Harriers), and a Marine Logistics Support Unit with 30 days supply of materiel and associated combat service support equipment.

Remember, this attack on the US Consulate/Embassy took place at about 9:30 PM (Local). That was 3:30 or 4:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. We had people in positions of authority to land the MEU just watching this debacle unfold.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is not a kind of crisis you can prevent using military power. Consulate massacre is clearly a failure of intelligence and security. You can’t fix it by military if you aren’t about to start a full-scale war about it.

So you want to toss the Marines , into Libya, with no intel, no plan, and no strategic or tactical objective within hours of the event? The REASON that embassies have a guard staff on site. AND DEPEND on the local government for security is because what you propose is impossible.

20
posted on 10/20/2012 6:04:20 AM PDT
by Kozak
(The means of defence again.t foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home JM)

So you want to toss the Marines , into Libya, with no intel, no plan, and no strategic or tactical objective within hours of the event? The REASON that embassies have a guard staff on site. AND DEPEND on the local government for security is because what you propose is impossible.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So embassies are established and there is never a plan for a crisis. Cool! Makes a Marine mom proud that our sons are sent to the embassy without plans. Just stand there in your dress blues to be a target, honey, we love you./end of my extreme sarcasm.

“CBS News has been told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did seek clearances from Libya to fly in their airspace, but the administration wont say anything further about what was said or decided on that front.”

Clintons leaking info???

As long as Panetta is in the clear then I think the Clintons will be full steam ahead. IF Panetta is wrapped up in the fiasco by making a bad decision - then his head is on the chopping block ,too. Clintons then have to tiptoe if they know what’s good for them.

“CBS News has been told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did seek clearances from Libya to fly in their airspace, but the administration wont say anything further about what was said or decided on that front.”

Did we seek clearance to fly in their airspace when we were supporting the Bruthas while getting rid of Daffy Duck?

Sad thing here is we had air resources that could have let loose some missiles and took out the terrorists and they wouldn’t have had a clue where it came from.

At worst, Israel (oh wait, they are no longer our friends) could have launched something.

What are you two talking about? Intel? Plan? "Strategic or tactical objectives" Yeah, the plan is you got Americans taking heavy fire on American soil from wild Indians. Intel? Plan? - so you show up and start greasing wild Indians until they either all die or run away. Plan.

Neither one of you genius's with your "strategic or tactical objectives" have ever served, have you?

You both sound like a couple button pushing office ladies.

28
posted on 10/20/2012 6:46:36 AM PDT
by atc23
(The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever.u)

Sounds like Ms Atkisson has been reading Freerepublic.com. A ton of FReepers were asking this question on 9/11 (12) 6 or 7 hours when the Cairo facility had been under seige all day as well!

6 or 7 hours is almost a full work day! So the US just stood around all day playing pocket pool? Not when I was in the shit we wouldn't have. The only one I know of that stands around all day running his mouth is the current Commander in Chief, Barack Hussein Obama (D) mmm mmm mm

34
posted on 10/20/2012 7:06:02 AM PDT
by atc23
(The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever.u)

Did we wait for visas and ask for permission from Ghadaffi before we sent in our planes to oust him?

What we’ve got here is selective use of protocols. If Obama wants somebody out he takes them out. He doesn’t want the Islamists out. That’s why he’s been helping to put them in, and why he acts like he can’t do against the Islamists what he did against our ALLIES in the war on terror - Ghadaffi and Mubarak.

We have no business having an ambassador in a country if we can’t trust anybody there, and if they wouldn’t let us fly over their air space to protect our own embassy. If these are the “friends” we spent our fire-power to install, then we’ve got a lot bigger problems than just an embassy attack.

Might have been too late to rescue the mission - I grant you that. That doesn't mean you don't counter attack and kill as many of them as you can find with A-10's, Apache's F15's and those big planes we have with the chain gun things. Whatever we have over there that can be on station while the attack was still going on. Drop Marine paratroops to secure a 5 mile radius after we're done with the killing.

Now, we have the supposed ringleader standing on a corner in downtown Tripoli sipping a strawberry latte bragging about his sacking of the US mission in Benghazi.

Something stinks to high heaven here.

Don't worry though, Hill and Hussein have promised to bring the attackers to justice - in a courtroom- in some liberal hellhole like New York or Frisco. I feel so much better knowing these two are in charge.

42
posted on 10/20/2012 7:25:49 AM PDT
by atc23
(The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever.u)

A White House official told CBS News that, at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies."

If all of that is true, then we might as well pull our military out of all bases outside the U. S. No rapid deployment forces?

(That's not a slam on our military men and women. It's a slam against our military planners and the political forces they kowtow to.)

Well, if you want to play Custer why not. BTW, they Indians had no manpads and RPGs. I dont think if Marines are about to absorb a hundred casualties for nothing.

RPGs? Have you ever been to an airshow? It is hard to point a camera at those things. You don't even know they are coming until ordnance has already hit you. Hitting a jet with an RPG would be a miracle shot.

The people in charge knew it would be easier to deal with dead Americans than dead Libyans who would be labeled "civilians" in any case. So they sat on their thumbs and waited for it to be over.

For goodness sakes (see moderators, I’m working hard to reduce my profanity), we could have dropped nuclear weapons. Why were we working to get rid of Gadaffi? There’s the question. Obama and Hillary are just a couple of Democrat grifters. Look at their histories. They didn’t grow up yelling, “Free the oppressed people of the Middle East!” They’re grifters out for money and re-election and funding the Democrat party. They could care less about the people of Libya and Egypt and Syria. What did they and the Democrat party gain by overthrowing these governments? And think about it. Bush was a cowboy because he went after Iraq and Afghanistan after we were attacked on 9/11? Well, then Obama must be a rustler for going after Libya and Egypt and Syria.

49
posted on 10/20/2012 8:37:34 AM PDT
by blueunicorn6
("A crack shot and a good dancer")

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